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Shriek (episode)
:You may also be looking for the supervillain Shriek. "Shriek" is the seventh episode of . It depicts the birth of the villain Shriek. After failing to impress Derek Powers with his new sound suit, Walter Shreeve takes an assignment to kill Bruce Wayne. Who is currently working to prevent Powers from decimating the block in which his parents were killed. However, after Batman prevents Bruce’s death, Shreeve goes crazy and becomes the villain Shriek. Meanwhile, Bruce is hospitalized so Terry must now stop this new villain on his own. Plot Derek Powers sits alone in a dark room while listening to a lecture from acoustician Walter Shreeve. Shreeve explains that sound is the first warning of danger and is under-appreciated. Just after that, Powers hears the sound of a locomotive racing towards him and stares into its headlight. Just as he screams in panic, the illusion ends and Shreeve points out that it was only to prove his point. At first Powers is angry at the mediocre demonstration. However, Shreeve shows his financial benefactor the real reason for his visit, this being the invention of a profound acoustical amplification/manipulation suit capable of easily destroying solid objects through use of focused infrasonic frequencies. Shreeve expresses his desire to use this suit to revolutionise the construction industry, but a still-unimpressed Powers remarks, "Dynamite’s cheaper." Seeking though to make use of Shreeve Sound Laboratories' research & development which has been made possible by Wayne-Powers funding, the villainous Powers conceives a specific use for the young scientist's cyclopean sonic-suit: he propositions Shreeve to eliminate the elderly Bruce Wayne. Later, Bruce makes a speech to his board of directors expressing his disgust with Powers’ idea to tear up Gotham City's Historical District (actually Crime Alley, left unchanged from the city’s development) and build an industrial complex. He proposes that they hold a stockholders' meeting for a vote. The proposal is quickly seconded and Powers has no choice but to allow the meeting to take place. Nevertheless he’s sure that his plan will succeed. Bruce meets up with Terry and takes him to Crime Alley. There, he explains to Terry why he’s fighting so hard to keep the place preserved: it includes the theater where his parents were killed. As Bruce reminisces, Ace starts going crazy. Terry goes up to check on him while Bruce continues to wander: arriving at the old police headquarters building (at one point passing by a wanted poster of The Joker). When he gets near what was once Commissioner Gordon's office, however, Shreeve arrives in his sonic-suit and starts attacking with sound blasts powerful enough to tear up the floor. Batman arrives and manages to tear away one of Shreeve's sound generators. However, the former police headquarters building is damaged so much that it starts to collapse. Both combatants and Bruce are forced to evacuate. Batman and Shreeve are okay, but Bruce collapses. Terry takes Bruce to the hospital and the old man gives the staff a horrible time. Bruce fumes over the fact that he has to stay in the hospital overnight and is skeptical of Terry’s ability to deduce the identity of his attacker. Back at Wayne-Powers Powers fumes over the fact that Bruce is alive and now guarded in the hospital. However, Shreeve believes he can still get to his target. Bruce suddenly starts hearing a voice claiming that there's something he must do. The voices order him to go to the window and open it. The voice indirectly encourages him to jump from the window, which would cause him to fall to his death. Bruce screams and alerts the staff but they cannot hear the voices. When Bruce tries to force his way out of the room, the orderlies come and sedate him. Meanwhile, Terry does an analysis of the sound generator from Shreeve's suit and discovers it to be comprised of acoustium, an alloy developed by Shreeve Sound Laboratories. With this lead, he disguises himself as a pizza delivery boy and cons his way into Shreeve's lab. Shreeve shows Terry some of his inventions such as a miniature radio receiver and transmitter and device to cancel out sound. However, when Terry asks about sound vibrations, Shreeve becomes suspicious and attacks him. Terry manages to escape and the police learn of Shreeve. Looking for revenge, Shreeve prepares to kill Powers but Powers talks him out of it and renames him "Shriek." Shriek likes the idea and decides to use his newfound power. Powers then reminds Shriek that he still wants Bruce killed and if Batman intervenes, Shriek should kill him as well. Batman pays a visit to Bruce and discovers the source of the voices: one of Shreeve's miniature radios hidden in Bruce’s bandage. Together, the two men leave the hospital and trace the signal back to Shriek. Batman finds him in a car factory and the two start to fight. Shriek has the advantage with his formidable sonic blasts, and Batman attempts to hide. Shriek's suit artificially allows him advanced auditory abilities and he is able to locate Batman with the sound of a screw dropping. Desperate to neutralize this advantage, Batman turns on the factory's machinery, causing a concert of noise. But Shriek reveals another of his sonic-suit's acoustic abilities: the projection of a dampening field that cancels out all ambient soundwaves (for Batman as well as himself), after which he isolates and amplifies the echo of Batman's footsteps from a distance. Batman is pursued out of the factory in an eerily complete silence, nearly getting killed not only by Shriek but a series of dangers that he’s unable to detect without sound. However as Ace is able to hear, Bruce unleashes him; the canine saves Terry from being hit by a truck. The Batman then defeats Shriek by effecting an overload in the suit's circuitry, causing the dampening field to suddenly cut-out and Shriek's ears are overwhelmed by the various sounds of the city which are collectively amplified in exponential by his sonic-suit. Walter Shreeve collapses, and when his cyclopean helmet is removed, the acoustician is horrified to realize that he is deaf! With the trouble over, Bruce appears at the stockholders' meeting opposite Powers. They explain their relative positions, and ask the stockholders to vote. The vast majority votes "Nay" and the motion is defeated. Bruce has scored yet another victory over Powers. As everyone disperses, Terry expresses his hopes that Shreeve will be able to testify against Powers. Bruce answers that he needs his hearing back, if it ever comes back. Terry then asks Bruce why he didn't think the voices were coming from his head. The answer is that the "voice" was calling him Bruce, but that's not what he calls himself in his subconscious. Realizing what the old man means, Terry asserts that it is his name now. Bruce sarcastically remarks, "Tell that to my subconscious." Continuity * Shriek next appears in the episode "Babel" in which it is revealed that he has adapted his suit to allow him to hear while wearing it, but his deafness otherwise remains. This episode also sets up the reason for Shriek's agenda: revenge on Batman. Background information * * Batman Beyond - The Complete Series (DVD) * Batman Beyond – Tech Wars and Disappearing Inque (DVD) Production notes * In the Bruce Timm says that BS&P wouldn't allow them to have Shriek explicitly tell Bruce to jump out of the window. Trivia * First time Ace helps Batman. * The only episode to feature Derek Powers without showing any sign of his Blight persona. * The car that Terry is driving resembles the Batmobile from . * It is explained why Bruce Wayne never calls Terry, "Batman" during his investigations, although he later does once in "Ascension", likely because Terry publicly saved him from Blight. Cast Quotes Category:A to Z Category:Batman Beyond episodes